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THE OUTLAND 38
Rome jumped off the wagon with a laugh and pushed the girl in the face, knocking her down.“The protector has been found, look. Maybe you want to pillory instead?You are executing an innocent person! - Sitting in the dust, the girl shouted. “He is not to blame for anything.- Soldier. I croaked.What do you want, sorcerer?“I will remember you.Now in no case should they be threatened or provoked in any way. I don’t care anymore, I’m not a tenant, and if you provoke the soldiers, then they may well abuse the girl - just to humiliate me even more. The bedding of the sorcerer.- Remember it well. Rome laughed again. - Say hello to Haang. Touch!The wagon began to move again, the stones seemed to have run out, or the crowd decided that it was necessary to spare my life until the execution began. Only Agnis screamed, thin and scary, pounding the ground with her fists. But no one heard her.And here is my forehead. A familiar pole, on which not so long ago - a week ago, if you count local
THE OUTLAND 39
“N-Probably.— That's what I think. You know, I feel obligated to repay your kindness. You know what, old man? Let's go out, I need to discuss something with you.They both left, leaving me alone with only the buxom wife of the headman - must be the mother of my character?- Eat, Mas, eat. Would you like something more tasty? - She got busy.- Milk, if possible. - A piece in the throat did not climb, to be honest. It was somehow strange and hard to have breakfast a couple of hundred meters from the place of my painful death.But I have to admit: this game definitely knows how to motivate. All these travel journals, quests and other antediluvian nonsense - everything is hopelessly outdated. But to throw the player into a situation where he himself sets a goal that he will definitely not forget about is right.- Do not go to the slaughter with the rest of the peasants. - A bowl of milk appeared in front of me, some kind of wicker roll. - There is no need for the son of the headman to de
THE OUTLAND 40
And there were enough living creatures around. It is clear that it will not be possible to go further along the rails - there are now hunting grounds for animated elements, but there was something to do here too."Congratulations! You have reached level fifteen! Attention! You have fifteen unallocated skill points. Please open the character window and invest the necessary points."Later, more and more later. I swiped the notification away and stared blankly at another one that took up half of my field of vision."Player, congratulations on your successful progress along the path of hero development! The starting location will be available for you up to the twentieth level, but if you suddenly liked it here so much that you are ready to stay here - the Idab company opens a set of game masters for players from level twenty!"Also interesting, but later. I shrugged off that notice as well. It's time to head back to the surface. Everything, from the point where I stopped, to the very end
THE OUTLAND 41
All the time before the house, my father was jumping up and down, trying to go on a run.- Well, well, well, well! he exclaimed from time to time.“Father, I am very glad that everything is all right with your hand.“Let’s go together tomorrow, I’ll teach you a couple of interesting things that your grandfather taught me.”- Great. I politely replied.“In general, I wanted to gather the whole village, throw a feast for the whole world, but somehow, right after the execution of the filthy sorcerer, it’s not worth it, it seems to me. People won't understand.- They won't understand.- Here! And we are in a close family circle, as they say. I also invited the holy brother to join us in order to somehow express gratitude, but he refused.Probably not hungry.- No, they now have a church vow of abstinence. They purify the spirit through abstinence, and this helps them work miracles.— Post?“I don’t know whether there is fasting or not fasting, but brother Foma has so far deigned to eat on
THE OUTLAND 42
No, I'm not late. A rope was thrown over the rafters, two loops were tied on it, and Agnis hung in the resulting snare, barely touching the ground with her fingertips, even from here she seemed strange - pale, almost blue.“Child, are you ready for ascension?” The darkness behind her asked.The girl mumbled something without opening her mouth, then looked in my direction with eyesores - and exhaled, went limp.- Well, what are you doing. Thomas sighed, snapping his fingers. - This is the most common stasis, it is harmless. You won't flinch, will you?- I don't care. - The girl answered in a calm voice. The colors returned to her face, she breathed a little more freely.I was pierced by a premonition of inevitable disaster. But what could I do? If it wasn’t even Foma himself, but his deputy who coped with me so easily in a state of altered perception, then Foma, I think, is a total waste of time. Or snap your fingers.But if I catch him red-handed, I'll tell everyone about what he's do
THE OUTLAND 43
There was no need for the Church to forbid anyone to approach the remains of the sorcerer or to set up guards - the people in the village lived dark, ignorant, superstitious. Hmm, in fact, so ignorant that they were ready to sacrifice an innocent girl to the church. Also a good exchange for yourself - the headman's hand for the life of Agnis.But for them it was in the order of things, damn it! They themselves, no worse than anyone else, will forbid themselves and others to approach the remains - well, how can damage with an evil eye be transferred from a sorcerer to them? No, no one wants to.So, except for the corpses of the soldiers already cooling down, it was only me on the square - and I sat there for these few minutes, ready to jump out of the thick shadow, cut my throat with the edge of the sword! The only pillory I had for company was a lonely, empty and abandoned by everyone, sticking out an accusing finger from a thin layer of greasy ash. I don’t know what kind of wood and
THE OUTLAND 44
I walked along the road with a leisurely, measured step, not particularly in a hurry, but not very slowly either, and so far I had no idea where and why. The first item of the program, marked as "away from here" can only be done in this way. And as I wave at least five kilometers, it will be possible to think about future plans.Definitely, despite the fact that I received mostly negative emotions from the game, I still appreciated the scheme of interaction with the player. Why force players to once again kill thirty rats and bring tails, ask them to collect twenty stones on the field or pile up fifteen carrots and proudly call it a quest, if you can simply create a situation where the player will give himself a task! I remember this living statue, gray eyes and curls so well that I definitely will not forget why I am in this world. At the same time, there was an incentive to develop, to get to know this world, to become stronger. Of course, the desire to kill someone from any point
THE OUTLAND 45
I could hardly contain my laughter. If this is a robbery, then some very strange. But he could not find the archer, no matter how hard he tried - the foliage did not move anywhere, the branches did not crunch underfoot, and intuition seemed to fall asleep again. On the other hand, it seems that she could not find me either - the tree served as a reliable shelter, from which I was in no hurry to leave.“Listen, I have nothing for you to profit from, except for a gladius, rusty and terrible. I removed it from the corpse of the church guard, so you can't even sell it. - I decided to keep silent about the fifteen silver coins, I needed the stabilization fund now, oh how I needed it. “But if you want, we can continue to play sit-rounds. Are you in a hurry to get anywhere?- … Good. The archer agreed. I'm putting away my weapons. See the clearing on the left? Go out there, but look, without sudden movements.A subtle, scrupulous moment of mutual trust. Not that I was afraid - in extreme cas